This is Chopin, my first and oldest male cat. He is a free spirited animal and loves roaming around the neighborhood. Everybody loves him, though nobody dares to touch him and even if they did - he wouldn't let them. He likes climbing trees, chasing after birds and lizards. Even though we let him roam the neighborhood we never fail to check on him every single day. He goes home at a specific time of the day usually very tired and hungry from his adventures. I was working night shift at the time in a call center, so I am asleep at most time of the day so I leave the checking in on our babies (cats) duty to my boyfriend.
One day, when I came home from work, I did the usual head counting as most of my cats except for Chopin will be there for food at that time. Chop would then come home to eat an hour after. I was so tired that day that I just left food for Chop to eat when he comes home and went to bed. When I woke up at night, I saw the kittens eating Chop's food instead. So I immediately thought that Chop might be off looking for girls again. I didn't mind.
The next day, I asked my boyfriend if he has seen Chop. He said he didn't but he wasn't worried because Chop, being a free cat comes home whenever he wants. I tried to wait for Chop to come home until I fell asleep and I still haven't caught sight of Chopin.
On the third day, I still haven't seen Chopin anywhere so I decided to look for him in our neighborhood. I went from house to house until one man told me that he has seen Chopin in a store and that the lady was known to be an animal hoarder. I tried not to believe it at first and went to the said store. At first, I approached the kid that stays there. "Have you seen my cat?" I asked. He fell silent, as if he's still trying to weigh whether to tell the truth or not. I asked again, "have you seen my cat?" while showing him Chop's picture on my phone.
"Yes." He answered. "He wouldn't let us touch him, we can't get him out of the cage."
"A cage?! I was furious, I never let him in a cage. I don't like seeing him being caged. When the kid saw my reaction, he ran to the lady owner of the store. Maybe telling her that I was there. When the kid came back, he told me that I can come in and take my cat.
I came in. Saw a bunch of cats and dogs in their home, I don't want to judge so I said nothing. Then, at the very back of their house I saw Chopin, alone in a cage. I called for him. "Chop!" And I saw his head jerk and meowed at me when he saw me. I opened the cage when the lady said, "I took him from there." As she pointed at a vacant lot. "He was resting and I recognized that it was yours so I took him in. My neighbor wanted to shoot him you see." I believed every word she said of course and I thanked her for taking my cat in for a while. "He wouldn't let us touch him so we kept him in the cage, we couldn't let him out. I've had scratches all over!" As she shows me her hand.
"I'm really sorry for the trouble my cat caused. I'll be bringing him to Luzon when I transfer."
Her eyes widened. "Luzon? You don't have to bring him! Just leave him here and we'll take care of him for you."
I politely declined and told her that Chop was a gift to me and I don't want him anywhere far from me. I opened the cage and Chop immediately jumped at my arms. "It's time to go home now." I told him reassuringly.
Before we were able to get out, the lady held Chop and told him "You have to come back, Chop. We will miss you."
I shrugged and we both went home.
It didn't end there, Chop went missing again for days again! I told my boyfriend to come with me this time so he can also talk to the lady. When we asked the lady, she told me that Chop wasn't there and they haven't seen him anywhere. My boyfriend on the other hand tried to search the store and caught sight of Chopin being tied to a chair. I tried to talk to the lady to please give us back our cat. She only agreed when I told her that I'll be bringing the police over if she still doesn't want to give me back my cat. From then on, I was forced to put Chop in a cage, just until this March where I'll be transporting him so we can be together again.
We had to give him a bath right after he came home, lol. Look at how dirty his fur is after we got him from the lady. He smelled bad too so a bath was necessary.